CHANGEd: What if we “called the electric company” more often with gratitude? 60-60-60 #45

Can you imagine working in an industry that achieves great success yet receives a disproportionate number of calls of complaint? I bet my electricity works 360 out of 365 days of the year. But when do I call the power company? When things aren’t working. I wonder what it’s like to work at the power [...]

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“Hey, let’s send Bo a quick video of what we’ve been white-boarding!” #IdeasWorthSpreading

For years, we have been working in the Junior High to “tear down the walls” that define the typical egg-crate culture of schools. As a faculty PLC, among other techniques, we have used Twitter, peer visits, instructional rounds, lesson study, job-embedded/regular team meetings, “FedEx Days,” and “campfire storytelling.” Every time we share, a connection-point on [...]

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New creation: culinary, jazz-fusion luminescence in teaching – PLCs as surgical-musical-chefs

Working to understand better the functions and processes of PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) – this is a constant pursuit and area of deep investigation and learning for me. I am coming to believe, more and more, that high-functioning PLCs are like some hybrid-cross consisting of the following parts: chefs, surgical teams, and jazz musicians. The [...]

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Valuable Time – Invaluable, Shared Insights

When I first began my role as principal (this current year is my ninth year in this role), I was not systemically connected to the work and learning of the faculty in my care. Ironic maybe, but true. In the ensuing years, I have developed systemic ways to plug into the work and learning of [...]

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#day1wms – An iMovie of a Few Moments on the JHS Opening Days

Well, in a phrase, I thought Opening Day in the Junior High School was fantastic. In fact, I thought both “opening days” — the new student orientation and the half-day ease-in — were fabulous. To see the excitement and to feel the energy from 561 students and 82 faculty…there is practically no feeling like that [...]

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